Lost Cause Diaries 9: The New and Improved Violet Gray
by HPDrummerman
Summary: After losing some weight and buying new clothes, Violet finally becomes the pretty girl she was destined to be. She is back on top as being a popular teen, but still is friends with her misfit pals and is no longer snobby herself. She also makes a promise to herself: if their paths ever cross again, she would apologize to Charlie Brown.
1. Chapter 1

Lost Cause Diaries #9: The New and Improved Violet Gray

**CHAPTER 1: A MAKEOVER FOR THE AGES**

As she entered her Senior year of high school, Violet was entering her last year of high school on a new note. She had maintained her friendship with Julia Robinson, who she met her freshman year. She had also made a ton of new friends who were shades nicer than the kids back at Junior High, Angela Monroe in particular. So for her new beginning, Violet started dieting, but not overdoing it like so many other girls her age. She ate sensibly, but allowed herself to splurge on fast food and desserts occasionally. She bought new clothes that would make her stand out. Gone was the ponytail she wore as a kid; in its place was long, flowing black hair down to her shoulders. She still like the colors lime green and violet (because of her namesake), and she now sported an hourglass figure, but still slender and tall. While she regained popularity, a big, more important change had happened to Violet.

She was no longer the spoiled, snobby kid he was in Sparkyville. The girl who once would not hesitate to tease her fellow classmate or a certain round-headed kid was long dead, and in her place was a sweet, outgoing, nice teenaged girl that the guys had a crush on. And she wouldn't try to steal her friends boyfriends from them, no matter how much said boys would look her way. She had a steady boyfriend in Michael Hawkins, the school quarterback for the varsity football team. Everyone thought that they were the perfect couple. And rather than flaunt their relationship to the whole school, the two kids are nice to everyone, even the misfits and outcasts. Years ago Violet wouldn't have been caught dead with kids like that, let alone talking to them, but in the years since, she had gone out of her way to make them feel welcomed and part of the team.

One thing had sadly not changed since being in high school, and that was her estrangement from her mother Kathleen. Ever since she failed to act on when Violet was humiliated and teased after the "Ugly Girl" party four years earlier, Violet had nothing to do with her mother. Kathleen had tried to reach out to Violet on a number of occasions, but she never responded to them, opting to sever all ties to her mother. Whenever she talked about her, Violet would refer to Kathleen as "the woman who gave birth to her". Michael knew about her problems with her mother and understood how she felt. Her father, Grant, by comparison, was caring and she loved him with all of her heart. Even before she was estranged from Kathleen, Violet always gravitated toward her father. She always held him in high regard. And Grant took a liking to Michael. Things in Violet's world was great.

One day during lunch, Julia ran up to Violet and Michael who were enjoying their lunch together. She said, "Vi, I don't want to alarm you, but a blast from your past is now going here."

"Who is it, Jules?" said Violet.

"Angela Monroe," shuddered Julia. And sure enough, Angela, herself, sashayed into the cafeteria with all of the swagger she had since the first time Violet met her in 6th grade. It looked like she hadn't changed one bit. She was still the stuck-up, snobby girl that used to torment Violet endlessly.

"Shit!" Violet muttered to herself. "Why did she have to transfer here?!"

"Just don't worry about her, babe," said Michael. "You're better than her." And as it seemed, Angela was getting dirty looks from the kids. Some of them had heard about the cruel prank she and her friends pulled on Violet years ago. Some of them didn't look her way, and some shot her dirty looks. It looked like her swagger she was showing earlier had went away.

"Look at that!" said Julia. "She's now walking like she has some sense! You see, Vi? Everyone here is on your side." Violet smiled. The one-time popular girl Angela was now the most hated girl at the school. She was being treated like she treated Violet and anyone else that had come in contact with her.

"How the tables have turned," Violet said with a smirk.

**NEXT CHAPTER: CONFRONTING THE PAST**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2: VIOLET CATCHES UP WITH ANGIE**

As she watched Angela from a distance, Violet wrestled with one thing on her mind. Should she even talk to her after how she treated her a few years back? The old Violet would have ran away from her nemesis, but the new Violet wanted to settle things between them. She had messed up with Charlie Brown when she first moved to California; she wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

She walked up to Angela, who was at her locker. "Angela?"

Angela turned around. She didn't recognize her old punching bag. "Do I know you?" she asked.

"Well let's just say after a certain faux pas you made my life a living hell for three long years," Violet responded. Angela recognized her then.

"Gray?!"

"Yes, it's me."

"Wow! You look different. You're not that same homely, drab girl you were when we first met!"

"You are right. And it's you that I want to thank."

"Me? What in the hell do YOU have to thank me for?"

"Well, you may find this hard to believe, it was because of your bitchiness towards me that changed me for the better. I'll explain. Back in my old town, Sparkyville, I was you. I was that girl that tormented kids endlessly. Me and my friend, Patty, were quick to tease and make fun of kids. One particular kid we always went after was a boy named Charlie Brown. He was one of the nicest boys you could ever meet. He was a bit clumsy. Okay, he was very clumsy, but his heart was always in the right place. But Patty and I made it our mission to make him as miserable as possible, mainly because he wouldn't fight back and he was easily depressed. Another girl, Lucy, was even meaner towards him than we were, but she would still hang out with him, even for her own amusement. I wouldn't even do that. I acted like I didn't want him existing, let alone in my life.

"But what I never told him, or even Patty for that matter was that I was masking a long-standing crush on him. That's right. I acted like I hated his guts to disguise the actual love I had for him. And it cost me one of the greatest boys I could have ever known. But I didn't really see it until I moved here, and you and your friends treated me like how I treated him. But there was one thing you did to me that even I would have never done to Charlie Brown, no matter how much I 'hated' him. The 'Ugly Girl' party! You remember? When you set me up to think that Gregory had a crush on me and actually liked me? I would never had done that to anyone I couldn't stand.

"Right now, I'm going to ask you the same thing Charlie Brown asked me before I moved away. Besides my mere existence, what did I ever do to you to earn your total hatred of me when we first met? Can you answer that, Angie?"

Unlike Violet, who didn't have an answer to the question when Charlie Brown asked her all those years ago, Angela, in fact, did have an answer.

"I was trying to fit in, Violet," she said, tears forming in her eyes. "In school, you are either on the inside of the in-crowd, or not. I wanted to be part of that it-group and I did. It was like a part of me died when I finally became popular. What I never told anyone is that after I acted like that towards you or anyone else, I felt sick to my stomach. I hated it! It wasn't who I truly was. It isn't who I really am now!"

"Why not show the world who you really are, Angie?" asked Violet.

"I'm scared, Violet," Angela cried. "I've been this bitch towards everyone I knew, just for bragging rights, and if I change now, what will they think of me?"

"You know what I say?" said Violet. "The hell with those folks! You don't need them. Look at me. You put me through hell, and now I'm stronger than I was before. I got my confidence back, and I'm no longer a mean girl, myself. You showed me what I had become. And I didn't like it. Now you're seeing what you've become. And unlike myself, you're realizing it now. It took you treating me like shit to see how I was acting towards Charlie Brown and the others. Not even Lucy, who came after me on more than one occasion, could make me see. That why I say that while I hated how you treated me, I am also in debt to you for how you treated me."

Angela was crying a bit. She was genuinely sorry for how she acted over the years. And now the two girls could start all over.

"I'm truly sorry for hurting you, Violet," sobbed Angela.

"Thank you," said Violet. "And I accept your apology." And the two former enemies hugged each other. Julia and Violet's boyfriend, Michael watched on.

"It looks like they finally made peace with each other," said Michael.

"Yeah," agreed Julia. "Now they can start from scratch." And the y continued to see Violet and Angela patch things up.

**NEXT CHAPTER: VIOLET'S PROMISE**


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3: FRESH BEGINNINGS**

After Violet got home from school, she saw her father was home from work early. As the years went on, their bond was stronger than ever, and Grant was proud of Violet getting past her troubles and even become a better person in the end. Violet never contacted her mother after the divorce and was still wary about seeing her, after she treated her with indifference pertaining to the "Ugly Girl" party. But she felt like she had to clear the air with her mother. But that would have to wait a while until she was truly ready.

"Hey, pumpkin!" greeted Grant.

"Daddy!" said Violet, kissing her dad on the cheek. "You're home early."

"Light work load today. You seem happy."

"I am happy. You remember Angela Monroe?"

"That awful girl who helped in setting you up at that party a few years back? What about her?"

"Well, she transferred to the high school this year."

"She's not giving you problems, is she?"

"On the contrary, we actually hashed out our differences. It turns out she was insecure herself. Wanting to fit in, like I did. She also apologized to me about that night and everything else she's done to me in the past. I have forgiven her."

"I guess if you forgive her, then I'm okay then, too."

"Seeing her again made me think about my own past."

"What do you mean, pumpkin?"

"Well, daddy, I was thinking about how I treated Charlie Brown back in Sparkyville. I was completely awful to him. I was no better to him than Angela was to me. Mom was right in that regard. So I made myself a promise. If there was a chance that our paths would cross again, I will apologize to Charlie Brown for how I treated him. Even if he doesn't want to be friends with me, let alone keep in touch, I just want to clear the air with him."

"That's admirable of you, baby. This is why I'm proud of you."

"Thank you, daddy." And they hugged each other. Violet meant what she said. If she ever met up with Charlie Brown in life again, she would try to make peace with him. If she and Angela Monroe could bury the hatchet, anything was possible when it came to Charlie Brown.

**THE END OF #9**

_**NEXT TIME, #10: A HOOKUP IN THE MAKING**_


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